Wicked Wild Fantasies by Shiloh Walker

Let’s get something out of the way right now: I think sex is a good thing. A great thing, even. It’s also clearly destructive and a host of other things, but it can be restorative and giving when in a trust-based relationship. And let us not forget fun! This book is just north of erotica and tipping into romance, and jaysus, mary and joseph this book is hot. The sex is hot. Their connection is hot. The book is just frigging hot.

Trigger warning, it opens with a mugging. Our heroine, Alison, is a bit of a mouse in the beginning of the book. She surprises herself and her mugger by attacking him, just before her would-be rescuer, her brother’s best friend Alex, shows up. Ali has been in love with Alex for a damn long time and so when he takes care of her as she recovers from the attack, they end up hooking up. It’s semi-conscious but consensual sex and it freaks Alex out how much he loves it.

So he leans into the douchecanoe curve and splits.

Ali decides she is done with being a mouse. She quits the job she hates, submits to a full-body make over with a friend who has been dying to do so for ages and takes a trip to Ireland on a whim. In Ireland, she explores a side of her and her sexuality she knows has been laying dormant for a while. Ali has a craving to be a bedroom submissive. No contracts, no all-encompassing stuff, just during sex. She wants to be tied up, she wants to have someone else control her orgasm – these are the fantasies.

After some cajoling and a reconciliation, Alex, of course, makes them come true and they fall in love and it’s all gorgeous.

What I loved about this book is that Ali spends the first half discovering herself and the second half reveling in the power that comes from living out of your true self. She is confident and strong and giving and taking and absolutely ready for her life. She is ready to both take and give control and know her limits and her desires. What power that is and I know so many women who could learn from Ali – whether their sexual desires line up with hers or not.

This book is sex wrapped in a great story and highly recommended if that ticks your boxes. Whiskey is the only way to go with a story like this – a slow sipper like a Glenlivet or a Bushmills.